Bound To Fate
by Katriona
Summary: Sequel to P4. Both prophesies have been fulfilled. Now, the Charmed Ones must get to know their baby sister, while at the same time discovering what Portia's real destiny is. *Please read P4 first, and r&r both fics*
1. Chapter the First

Bound to Fate  
  
Summary: Sequel to P4. Both prophesies have been fulfilled. Now, the Charmed Ones must get to know their baby sister, while at the same time discovering what Portia's real destiny is. *Please read P4 first, and r&r both fics*  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the major characters, except Portia.  
  
A/N: I'm really going to need feedback on this one, because it's been a while since I wrote P4, and it's hard trying to remember where I was going with both the story and the characters. Hopefully my writing's improved in the last year or so, and I'll be able to figure it out quickly, but reviews would still be much appreciated.  
  
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Portia stared out the plane window. This was it. Today her father's promotion went into effect. Today he left on the first of many business trips, and today she moved in with the sisters she hardly knew.  
  
They'd finally made the trip to New York, to collect the things they'd left behind in storage when they'd moved into the tiny San Fransisco apartment. Victor had sent some of Portia's things ahead, so they'd already be there when she arrived, to make her move as easy as possible. Portia later found out that this had been her oldest sister, Prue's idea. Prue was, by nature, very protective of her younger siblings. Though she'd been just as shocked to learn of Portia's existance as Portia had been to learn of hers, she'd immediately extended that concern to her baby sister, almost by pure instinct.  
  
Portia gripped the armrest as the plane descended. No matter how many times she'd moved around with Victor - and they'd moved around a lot - she'd never completely gotten over her fear of flying.  
  
Victor glanced over at his daughter. He hadn't been able to shake the feeling of unease that had been with him since they'd left for New York. He'd always felt horribly guilty over abandoning Prue, Piper, and Phoebe. Now, here he was, hours away from doing the same thing to Portia, his baby.  
  
He shook his head. 'It isn't the same thing,' he reminded himself firmly. 'I never did right by the other girls, I never helped them as daughters or as witches. Portia needs their guidance; I'm doing this for her own good.'  
  
Although he knew this was true, even in his own mind it sounded lame. He wanted to be there for Portia, and for his other daughters. He knew he couldn't, knew there was no possible way, but that didn't change the feeling that he was leaving his little girls all over again.  
  
Portia, getting that feeling in the back of her neck that comes when people stare at you, looked up and met Victor's gaze. Noticing her own knuckles were turning white, she let go of the armrest and instead leaned against him for comfort. To soothe her fear, he ran his fingers through her hair the way he'd done when she was little.  
  
Portia snuggled up against him, still thinking about her sisters. Nervously, she buried her face in his shirt, and asked, "Will they like me, Daddy?"  
  
"Of course they will," Victor said, somewhat surprised at the question. "They already do. I saw the way you girls got along the last time we were there."  
  
"Oh, of course we got along then." Portia sighed. "We were all so nervous, it was all we could do to be amicable. You, Mom, and Grams did put us in a rather difficult position, you know. And then, not telling us until right before we met! None of us knew how to act, we were so busy trying to make good impressions that we didn't even get to know each other."  
  
Victor looked down, in awe of his youngest daughter. Portia had always been extremely bright for her age, but it still amazed him when she made such precocious - and accurate - observations.  
  
"I know this is hard on all of you." he said. "I'm not going to pretend that it's fair, because it's not. I admit, some of it is my doing. I should have told you sooner, but I thought you had enough to handle at first, just by discovering your powers. You understand why I couldn't tell you before then, don't you?"  
  
"I understand." Portia said. "It doesn't make it any easier, though. And then there's this whole magic thing. I mean, not only do we have to learn how to function as sisters, but as witches, too? How complicated is that?"  
  
"Very complitcated," Victor replied, inwardly marvelling at how she could go from being far advanced one minute, and an innocent child the next.  
  
Portia, reverting back to the innocent child, repeated her initial question. "Will they like me, Daddy?"  
  
Victor thought for a minute, trying to come up with an answer that would satisfy the girl. "Well, do you like them?"  
  
Portia nodded. "I like them very much. I mean, I'd barely known them a week, but seeing the way they interact with each other, and how nice they were to me... I really like them."  
  
"Then you don't have to worry." Victor assured her.  
  
Portia leaned back against him, not completely convinced, but not as nervous as she had been before. She closed her eyes, but then immediately opened them again. The plane had stopped moving. They were there. 


	2. Chapter the Second

Prue, Piper, and Phoebe were huddled together on the hard airport benches, each lost in her own train of thought. They were waiting for their father to arrive with their newly-discovered sister.  
  
"Does any of us know what the hell we're doing?" Piper asked suddenly.  
  
"You mean, getting a little girl we don't even know anything about, aside from that she's our sister, to move in with us two weeks after we found out she exists?" Prue replied. "No. Not a clue."  
  
"We haven't the slightest idea what we're getting into." Phoebe agreed.  
  
Piper snorted. "Yeah. Neither does she."  
  
"She is our sister," Prue reminded them.  
  
"We've been out of her lives for the past thirteen years." Phoebe pointed out. "You just said it yourself, we haven't even had time to wrap our heads around the fact that she exists, or vice-versa. Who knows how we'll feel about each other when the dust settles?"  
  
"She's our sister." Prue repeated. Ever since childhood, when their parents had both exited their lives due to divorce and death, Prue had been determined to keep what was left of the family together. Just because they hadn't known about Portia didn't make her an exception.  
  
"What if she doesn't like us?" Piper asked, not knowing that at that moment Portia was comtemplating the same thing. "Being thirteen is hard enough, but having to deal with this, too? What if she ends up hating us for it?"  
  
Prue shook her head. "We don't always get along, either. And as for the second part, about hating us, well... She'll learn to deal. We did."  
  
"Oh my God, there she is." Piper whispered.  
  
Across the terminal, Victor was walking toward them, holding Portia by the hand. The three women were instantly struck by how much she resembled each of them. She had a small, wiry frame like Piper's, and black hair like Prue's, which was a sharp contrast to her pale, porcelin-like skin. Her icy blue eyes also mirrored Prue, although their almond shape definately resembled Phoebe's. She looked like a painting the sisters had seen many times in the attic, a painting that had been handed down in the family since before even Melinda Warren's time.  
  
Now, father and daughter were only a few feet away from the rest of the family. Prue made the first move, approaching her youngest sister and giving her a quick hug. Portia returned the embrace a bit unsurely.  
  
"Hi, sweetheart." Prue greeted.  
  
"Hi." Portia replied shyly.  
  
There was an awkward pause, during which Leo and Cole appeared with the few bags that Portia had brought on the plane.  
  
"Is this it?" Leo asked.  
  
"Most of her things are at the house already." Piper reminded him.  
  
"Did you bring anything, Dad?" Phoebe asked.  
  
Victor shook his head. "It's a good thing I didn't. Our flight was delayed this morning; my plane leaves in about half an hour."  
  
Another stretch of silence. The minutes ticked by, until it was time for Victor to leave.  
  
Portia put her arms around him, hugging him good-bye.  
  
"Don't worry, baby," he whispered in her ear. "You'll be okay with them, you'll see."  
  
Portia nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She stepped back to let her sisters say good-bye.  
  
Phoebe and Piper each gave Victor a hug. Prue didn't even look up as she said, quite coolly, a simple "Bye, Dad." With another nod to Portia, he walked away.  
  
Prue, Piper, and Phoebe were left standing in the middle of the airport with the child, the sister they didn't know. Nobody really knew how to proceed.  
  
"Maybe we should take this back to the manor," Cole suggested. Leo quickly agreed, and the men shimmered and orbed out, respectively.  
  
Portia's eyes only registered mild suprise at the sight of Leo and Cole disappearing like that. In a daze, she allowed Prue to take her hand and lead her out to the parking lot.  
  
The drive home was short, silent, and filled with tension. The last time the sisters had met, they'd been focusing entirely on a demon. Now, there was no demon, no evil force to distract them. Now, there was only a simple truth that they were only beginning to fathom. Portia was their sister. This hadn't truly begun to dawn on any of the four until now.  
  
Portia was still in a stupor when they pulled up to the house. IN that moment, the gravity of their situation and the fact that this secret, now revealed, would change their lives in ways unimaginable, began to sink in with three simple words from Piper.  
  
"Welcome home, sweetheart." 


	3. Chapter the Third

Prue unlocked the door, and ushered her sisters inside.  
  
"Do you want something to eat or drink or anything?" she asked Portia awkwardly.  
  
The little girl shook her head. "No thanks. I'm okay." she said quietly.  
  
"Okay." Piper echoed. "Then do you want to see your room?"  
  
Portia nodded. The four marched upstairs, to a large room that was next to Prue's and across from Phoebe's, diagnol from Piper and Leo's.  
  
"This used to be Grams' room." Phoebe said. "We kept most of the furniture, and the decorations and stuff. We figured you'd like to fix it up yourself."  
  
Portia put her purse and the small backpack she'd been carrying down on the bed and looked around. "It's nice." she said after a long pause.  
  
"You can paint it, put posters up, whatever you want." Prue said.  
  
"Yeah, and if you want to change the furniture around, you can get Prue to help." Piper added. "Between the two of you, you can have the whole room rearranged in under a minute."  
  
Portia cracked a smile, but stayed quiet. There was a long, tense pause.  
  
"Um, do you need help unpacking or anything?" Phoebe asked to break the silence.  
  
"Sure." Portia said. She pointed to the backpack. "That was all I brought on the plane with me, plus a few things that Daddy checked, but the guys took those."  
  
Piper checked her watch. "Where are they, anyway?"  
  
"I think they wanted to give us some sister-time." Phoebe said. "I heard Leo and Cole talking about maybe leaving us alone tonight."  
  
They heard the click of the front door swinging open. There were some whispers, the sound of footsteps, and then the door being shut again. The girls went downstairs to investigate, and sure enough, the few suitcases that they'd picked up at the airport were piled near the front door, with a note from the guys saying not to expect them home.  
  
"Okay, well, now that we don't have to worry about them..." Prue started.  
  
"So, do you want to eat and then unpack, or do you want to unpack and then eat, or do you want to blow off unpacking until tomorrow and have dinner in front of the TV like normal people...?" Piper suggested.  
  
Portia shrugged. "Whatever you guys want to do."  
  
"What's in the backpack, sweetie?" Phoebe asked, noticing that the girl had brought the bag downstairs with her.  
  
Portia opened it, pulling out two inhalers and a bottle of perscription medication. "I've got asthma." she explained.  
  
Piper, Prue, and Phoebe exchanged glances. Their father had forgotten to tell them this.  
  
"Oh. Okay, well if you want, you can put all that in the kitchen. Do you know what time you have to take your medicine, and when to use your inhaler, and all that?" Prue asked.  
  
The little girl nodded. "Yeah. I've been handling this myself since I was seven. Daddy worked a lot, you know, so most of the time I was the one reminding him when I needed it."  
  
"Allright then." Prue replied. It comforted her to know that her sister could take care of this herself, but she felt bad that their father had left her to her own devices at such a young age.  
  
Wordlessly, they proceeded into the kitchen. Phoebe showed Portia where to put her medication, and Piper started cooking dinner.  
  
"Dad told me your favourite food is spaghetti. Right?" Piper asked, turning around to face her baby sister.  
  
Portia nodded.  
  
Piper smiled at her. "Mine, too. Do you want meat sauce, garlic sauce, garden sauce, or plain tomato sauce?"  
  
Portia chose the garden sauce. "I'll make it." she volunteered.  
  
Piper's smile grew even wider. "You cook?" Portia nodded again, and Piper hugged her tightly. "We are going to get along so well."  
  
Portia laughed. "You like to cook?"  
  
Piper exchanged glances with Prue. "You could say that." she replied.  
  
"Piper used to be a chef." Prue explained.  
  
"Grams kind of pushed me into it." Piper told the youngest Halliwell.  
  
"You were born for it." Phoebe countered.  
  
"Are you still a chef?" Portia wanted to know.  
  
"No." Piper answered. "Now I own a night club, P3."  
  
"That is so cool!" Portia exclaimed.  
  
Piper's eyes narrowed. "Don't even think about it, missy, it's 21 and over."  
  
Portia frowned.  
  
Phoebe pulled her to the side. "Don't worry about it," she whispered in her ear. "I'll get you in when the Big Bad Big Sisters aren't looking."  
  
Portia grinned excitedly.  
  
"Okay, what was that?" Piper asked suspiciously.  
  
"What was what?" Phoebe asked innocently.  
  
"What was that thing you just whispered in Portia's ear?" Prue clarified.  
  
"Can't a girl talk to her baby sister without a full inquisition?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"She's my sister, too." Piper retorted. "Portia, honey, what did the crazy lady say to you?"  
  
Portia stepped back. "I'm not getting in the middle of this. I'm new, no fair making me the mediator yet. Or, yanno, ever."  
  
Piper tilted her head to one side. "Smart kid." she remarked. "Why do I let myself get pulled into fights between you two again?"  
  
"Because you're the middle child and it's your job." Phoebe replied.  
  
"Oh, but now you're the middle child, too." Prue pointed out.  
  
Phoebe looked in alarm between Prue and Portia.  
  
Piper snorted. "Sucks, doesn't it? Just wait until their first fight."  
  
Prue pulled Portia to her. "We're not going to fight. We're going to be bestest friends. Well, maybe the occasional arguement, just to piss Phoebe off, but that won't be fighting, that'll be fun." she declared.  
  
"Hey!" Phoebe objected.  
  
Portia put one arm around Prue, returning her older sister's embrace, and used the other hand to stir the sauce. "I think dinner's ready." she said.  
  
Piper stirred the spaghetti one last time. "I think you're right. Okay, all of you. Dining room. Now."  
  
They all did as told. Now that the ice had been broken, for tonight, anyway, they had a pleasant meal, laughing and teasing each other. When they finished eating, the moved into the living room to watch TV. However, it was getting late, and they were all tired.  
  
Leo and Cole came home some time after midnight, to find the four sisters asleep, cuddled together on the floor with pillows and blankets they'd taken from the hall closet. High above their heads, just under the ceiling, there was a small circle made of four dim, white lights. 


	4. Chapter the Fourth

Quietly, so as not to wake the girls, the two men went upstairs to discuss what this might mean.  
  
"It shouldn't surprise us." Cole said. "We knew she was going to be powerful, with what Patty, Victor, and the girls' grandmother did to protect her."  
  
"Yes, but how powerful?" Leo questioned. "If the prophecy that Patty told the girls about was right, then she's even stronger than the Charmed Ones."  
  
"The question is, what is she?" Cole asked. "Obviously she isn't human. But is she a witch? Or is she something... higher?"  
  
Leo shrugged. "Well, whatever she is, she's also Piper, Prue, and Phoebe's sister. Our first thoughts have to be about how to protect her."  
  
"But how can we protect her if we don't know what she is?" Cole argued.  
  
Leo looked down. He didn't have an answer.  
  
Cole took this to be a concession, and continued. "Neither of us had ever heard about this prophecy until the girls were reunited. Phoebe told me that Patty herself admitted that nobody had really believed it. But obviously, both sides knew it existed. All I'm saying is, you go to your people and I'll go to mine, and one of us is bound to come up with something."  
  
Leo thought for a minute, then nodded slowly. "It could work. But are you sure you want to go down there? It's dangerous, the Source has bounty hunters all over looking for you."  
  
Cole grinned. "Concerned? Gee, Leo, I didn't know you cared so much."  
  
"I care about Phoebe." Leo countered. "She's like a sister to me, and besides, she'd have my ass if I didn't at least try to talk you out of this."  
  
Cole laughed. "That is true," he admitted. "although I'd actually enjoy seeing her kick your ass."  
  
Leo glared at him. "Yanno, if I wasn't supposed to be a pacifist..."  
  
Cole smirked. "You'd what? Throw little white orbs-things at me?"  
  
Leo rolled his eyes. "Are we going to do this or not?"  
  
"Now, wait a minute. A second ago you're trying to talk me out of this, and now you're in a hurry to leave?" Cole remarked.  
  
"I want us both back here before the girls wake up." Leo explained. "Because if Phoebe's pissed off at me, then-"  
  
"Then Piper will be, too?" Cole guessed. "Yeah. I get the same thing from Phoebe, which sucks because Prue hates me no matter what I do, so I'm always screwed over. Allright, let's go."  
  
With a nod to each other in acknowledgement of the recent male-bonding moment, Cole shimmered and Leo orbed out to their respective magical destinations.  
  
A few minutes after they disappeared, Portia slipped out from behind the door. She'd always been a light sleeper, especially in unfamiliar surroundings. She had woken up when the men came in, and then had gone upstairs to her own room. She'd paused outside Piper's door when she heard her name mentioned, and she'd been there ever since. Now, she was left with lots of questions. Most of them led back to the same one that Cole had asked only minutes before.  
  
What was she?  
  
There was only one person she knew of who could tell her the answer. She didn't want to admit to the men that she'd been eavesdropping, and she was too shy to go to her sisters, so instead she climbed the attic stairs. She took a breath when she reached the top of the stairs, and opened the door slowly. She gathered five candles in a circle, and lit them with her power, the way she'd done the first time she'd been here. However, that time she'd had her sisters. Now, she was all alone.  
  
Pushing this thought from her mind, Portia convinced herself that she could do this. 'I'm a witch, damnit,' she thought. 'Or maybe even something higher, like Cole said. I can do this. Just say the spell.'  
  
She went over to the Book of Shadows, and flipped until she found the right spell. It was the spell that her sisters had shown her. The spell to summon the dead. Taking a deep breath, she chanted.  
  
"Hear these words, hear my cry  
Spirit from the other side  
Come to me, I summon thee  
Cross now the great divide."  
  
In an instant, the ghost of her mother appeared, soft and radiant amidst the candlelight.  
  
"Portia? Sweetheart, what's wrong?"  
  
Portia sat down cross-legged on the floor, just outside the ring of candles. "Mom, what am I?" she asked, getting right to the point.  
  
Patty looked bewildered. "What do you mean, 'what are you'?"  
  
"I mean, am I witch? Am I human? Am I something altogether different?" she clarified.  
  
"Darling, you're half witch, half human. Hasn't your father explained this to you? He said he was going to, but you know he was never good at talking to your sisters, either, especially about things like this..."  
  
"Mom, it wasn't Daddy's fault." Portia interrupted. She told her mother about the conversation she'd overheard.  
  
Patty looked at her daughter, a troubled expression on her transparant face. "It's true, there is a prophecy concerning you. I don't know exactly what it says. It doesn't mention anything about a higher being, well, nothing that I've heard anyway. All I know is that you are to be infinately more powerful than your sisters."  
  
"More powerful than the most powerful witches in existance?" Portia asked skeptically. "How is that possible?"  
  
"The two prophecies do seem to contradict themselves, don't they?" Patty conceded.  
  
"So what am I supposed to do?" Portia asked desperately.  
  
Patty shrugged. "I don't know, darling. I guess you just wait to see what Cole and Leo find out." She looked up suddenly, biting her lip. She was being called. "I have to go, darling." she said as she began to disappear. "Blessed be!" 


End file.
